Broadcasting & Cable Today: The Business of Television
Trouble viewing this email? Click here.
To ensure our emails reach your inbox, add BCToday@email.BroadcastingCable.com to your address book. Click here to learn how.


Broadcasting & Cable Today: The Business of Television



Wednesday, April 16, 2008

TODAY'SNEWS

NAB 2008: NBCU Tackles Digital Downconversion
By Glen Dickson
Las Vegas -- NBC Universal is making moves now to ensure that its television programming continues to reach standard-definition cable and satellite viewers in the proper format after high-powered analog broadcasts cease in 2009 and cable and satellite operators will start carrying a downconverted version of the network’s HDTV signal to support viewers with analog sets.

NAB 2008: NBCU: Don’t Plan on Voucher Extensions for Converter Boxes
By Glen Dickson
Las Vegas -- Consumers who receive a $40 coupon from the government to subsidize the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter box should act fast, said NBC Universal vice president Bob Okun, who heads the network’s lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.

NAB 2008: Cable Operators, TV Stations Must Unite for DTV Transition
By P.J. Bednarski
Las Vegas -- They weren’t all singing Kumbaya, but at a National Association of Broadcasters session here Monday, leaders of the cable and broadcast industries pledged cooperation toward getting the digital transition to happen without major casualties, and both sides saw potential pluses.

Cable-Programming Execs to Martin: A la Carte Proposal Anti-Consumer
By John Eggerton
Top cable-programming executives told FCC chairman Kevin Martin he should focus on the DTV transition rather than an a la carte proposal in which cable channels above a certain price -- say $0.75-$1 per subscriber, per month -- would have to be offered separately, or a la carte.

Check out B&C’s NAB SHOWCASE
Complete coverage of the 2008 NAB Show -- before, during and after -- with breaking news and analysis, video updates from the floor and more.

Click here...


FCC: Public Safety Is DTV-Transition Priority
By John Eggerton
All of the FCC commissioners agreed Tuesday that the No. 1 priority for the digital transition was not DTV converter boxes nor the education program, but creating an interoperable broadband public-safety network with spectrum being reclaimed from that transition.

UPFRONT & CENTER: Bravo to Debut Its Final Season of Project Runway
By Anne Becker
Bravo will premiere its fifth and most likely last season of Project Runway in July, giving the show a brief break before it debuts on its new home, Lifetime Television.

NAB 2008: UGC Moves to Mainstream
By Michael Malone
Las Vegas -- User-generated content is no longer restricted to entertaining oddities such as pet tricks and Mentos-Diet Coke explosions, and it is a vital way to extend a channel’s reach, said the speakers in the Radio-Television News Directors Association session here, “Making User-Generated Content Part of Your Overall Strategy, Online and On Air.”

Syndication Ratings: Pregnant Man Sends Oprah Back to Stratosphere
By Paige Albiniak
Thomas Beatie, the so-called pregnant man, scored big for CBS' The Oprah Winfrey Show in the week ending April 6. An April 3 episode featuring the six-months-pregnant Beatie -- who retained his female reproductive organs after undergoing a partial sex change years ago -- gained 45% from the prior week to hit a 7.1 live-plus-same-day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Comparatively, the rest of Oprah's four shows averaged a 5.5.

Comcast, Pando Networks Work on ‘P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities’
By John Eggerton
Saying it is the next step in its effort to find a solution to network-management issues associated with file-sharing applications, Comcast said Tuesday that it is working with peer-to-peer sharing-application provider Pando Networks on a "P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities."

ACLU Applauds Presidential Candidates for Supporting Federal Shield Law
By John Eggerton
The American Civil Liberties Union was feeling good Tuesday about the growing support for a federal shield law, which would grant qualified protection of journalists and their sources from investigations by federal prosecutors.

FROMB&CMAGAZINE

Janet Annino Likes Her New Recipe
By Paige Albiniak
Cooking wasn't exactly Janet Annino's strong suit when she agreed to become the executive producer of Rachael Ray back in 2006. After all, Annino had spent the last 18 years getting up early to break celebrity news at Entertainment Tonight, CBS Television Distribution's flagship access magazine. “The idea of getting the story first got me out of bed every day,” she says.
From the 04/14/2008 issue of Broadcasting & Cable




You are receiving this e-mail because you have requested either a newsletter or a magazine from
Reed Business Information.

You are currently registered to receive BROADCASTING & CABLE's online e-mail newsletters at #EmailAddr#

Subscribe to B&C Today's e-mail newsletters   |   Unsubscribe from B&C Today
Update Your Information  |  Privacy Policy

QUESTIONS?
If you need further assistance with your newsletter subscription, please contact our Online support staff.
Send editorial questions about this newsletter to: jeggerton@reedbusiness.com
Send advertising questions about this newsletter to: onlineads@reedbusiness.com

PRIVACY MANAGER: privacymanager@reedbusiness.com;
Reed Business Information 2000 Clearwater Drive Oak Brook, IL 60523   |   Fax 630-288-8394
Copyright 2007, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.






Advertisements